Linguistics lexicon handout
Law (see Crystal 1987).
In languages with widespread literacy, other means of forming new words are based on the
writing system. In English both abbreviations (e.g. BBC, MP, PC, etc.) and acronyms (e.g.
radar) are common. (Radar stands for RAdio Detection And Ranging.) Other languages use
other devices (for example, in languages that use the Chinese writing system, it is common
for long compounds to be reduced to the first elements of the subcompounds they contain, so
that Japanese too-kyo dai-gakku `Tokyo University', literally `east-capital big-school' is
usually referred to as too-dai literally `east-big' but more idiomatically translated as
something like `TU'). German abbreviations/acronyms are often based not on the first letter
of the component words, but on the letters for the onset and nucleus of the first syllable of
the component words, e.g. Gestapo from GEheimSTAatsPOlizei `secret state police'.
The other obvious way in which languages get new words is from other languages
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